The Supreme Court on Friday sentenced to death a woman and her paramour for wiping out her entire family of seven members, including a 10-month-old infant, in the most inhuman and diabolical manner. The accused, both residents of Allahabad, had plotted the crime in 2008 with an eye on the family property.
Numbed by the manner in which a daughter could betray the trust of her entire family by administering them drugs mixed in tea and allow her paramour to slit the throats of the unconscious victims, the Bench headed by Chief Justice Hl Dattu said, "Both the accused wrench the heart of our society where family is an institution of love and trust, which they have disrespected and corrupted for the sake of their love affair."
Ironically, the accused (Shabnam) was a school teacher, educated and financially independent, brought up in a decent, educated household as her father too was a teacher. Evidence led by the prosecution showed that she held the head of her aged parents, two brothers, sister-in-law and niece allowing her paramour Salim to cut their throats with an axe. She then ruthlessly throttled the infant, changed her dress, helped Salim to flee, and pretended to lay unconscious after raising a false alarm. At the time of incident, Shabnam was pregnant from her illicit relationship with Salim.
The Bench, also comprising Justices SA Bobde and Arun Mishra, said, "Not only did she (Shabnam) forget her love for and duty towards her family, but also perpetrated the multiple homicide in her own house so as to fulfill her desire to be with the co-accused Salim and grab the property leaving no heir but herself."
There was unanimous view by the Courts to award death sentence to the couple. Echoing the same sentiment, the apex court held, "Of all the crimes that shock the souls of men, none has ever been held in greater abhorrence than parricide, which is by all odds the most complete and terrible inversion not alone of human nature but of brute instinct."
In choosing between life and death for a crime, the Court held that the sentence must have a link with "contemporary community values" and family relations play vital role in highlighting qualities of our society. In the modern family context, the Bench said a daughter plays the role of a caregiver, supporter, a gentle hand, a responsible voice. In short, she embodies all values that make a parent place blind trust and faith. Seen from this pedestal, the Bench felt no reason to disagree with the trial court and Allahabad High Court to award death sentence to the duo.
Amicus curiae Dushyant Parashar, who appeared for the accused, sought leniency in view of a child born to the couple and their young age. The fact they exhibited no remorse for killing their family, to the extent of slaughtering a harmless ten-month infant, convinced the Court that the case fell in the "rarest of rare" cases deserving only death.